Cleaning up our beaches

This morning we participated in a beach clean up organized by the local chapter of Surfrider. We targeted Steps and Maria beach and their parking areas, collecting recyclables and trash. We worked with the group for 1.5 hours and were amazed (and angered) by the amount of trash we found. Some areas were littered with dozens of bottles and beer cans, remnants of recent (and less recent) beach parties. This is especially maddening as all beaches have been outfitted with large and clearly visible trash cans in the parking areas. Keeping our beaches clean would be a lot easier if everyone just picked up after themselves! OK. Off my soap box.